Happy Fifth of July Block!

July 5, 2020May 7, 2026 Elizabeth E.16 Comments

I couldn’t just stop at one, could I? After all the original Shine quilt has sixteen. Let’s just say I have been busy, although given the CovidSludgeyFeeling that all of us have, it’s sometimes been difficult to power through.

But I’m feeling good this particular day (let’s not talk about last Thursday, shall we?) and so I am pressing forward with some Red, White and Blue creations to brighten up your mailbox.

I call this block Sunshine. (I’m sure that is a big surprise.) And we’ll get a lot of it with temps soaring into the near-100s this week.

I’m not shy, says Mr. Sunshine. I’ll show you my backside.

UPDATE: Head here for the main page of the free EPP blocks.

(Apparently this is also Mechanical Pencil Day, Bikini Day (invented in 1946), and in various countries, Independence Day.)

Free Quilt Pattern · Patterns by Elizabeth of OPQuilt · Red, White and Blue · Shine: The Circles Quilt · Tiny Quilts

Happy Fourth of July Block!

July 4, 2020May 7, 2026 Elizabeth E.13 Comments

I decided to give my Shine: The Circles Quilt blocks another run, prompted by a backdoor agreement that won’t be mentioned at this point, but when/if it happens, I will be more than happy to splash it all over.

This time, the blocks will coalesce into one pattern, which will soon be available up on my pattern site, PayHip.

UPDATE: Head here for the main page of the free EPP blocks.

I remember my Clothing and Textiles teacher telling me that the inside of a garment is where the real story is. So here is the inside of this circle. Carol showed me her Red, White and Blue stack of Mackinac Island prints from Minick and Simpson, and yes, they arrived at my house probably only a day after they arrived at her house. (Quilt friends can be quite wicked that way.)

They, of course, are last year’s treasure, but I’ve been finding other prints that have been joining the stack growing to the side of my cutting table. And Minick and Simpson do have a companion collection coming out later this year, so we’ll see if I need any more.

I call this first block Swirlygig, but it floats a different direction than the original block.

This was the original Shine quilt. It’s time for a up-do-re-do!

Pattern coming soon. Happy Fourth of July!

This free tiny flag quilt pattern is up under the Tab: Past Endeavors -> Tiny Quilts

This free four-patch flag pattern available here

200 Quilts · Quilts

Sweet Land of Liberty

June 12, 2017June 7, 2017 Elizabeth E.11 Comments

SweetLandLiberty_front Sweet Land of Liberty
Quilt #182
28″ square SweetLandLiberty_upper border

I started this in January, prepping up the stars and beginning the hand-blanket-stitching a couple of days after my rotator cuff surgery. This was a bright spot during that time, keeping me focused as I moved forward through different steps of what I was calling my “Liberty USA” quilt. SweetLandLiberty_stars

My friend Susan of Patchwork N Play, in Australia, is always hand-quilting her quilts, and I wanted to try that, too.

SweetLandLiberty_star

So I rustled up some patriotic colors of perle cotton from my Oh Christmas Tree quilt, and went to town…well, riding on a pony and all that, because it took some time to do this.

SweetLandLiberty_detail

I cut some fabric for the rod pocket this week and on the selvage, I saw this. Perfect for my title, I thought! SweetLandLiberty_back

It’s up there, stitched onto the rod pocket in the upper right corner.

SweetLandLiberty_label

I listened to Hamilton, the novel, last year and one take-away for me was how imperfect our early Founding Fathers were, but what a magnificent thing they created as they pulled together and figured out our country and its laws. They had patriotism in its purest form: e pluribus unum, out of many, one (our country’s motto). I try to keep that ideal in my head every year as I celebrate our Independence Day.

And yes! I finished the quilt by my self-imposed deadline of July 4th, so that’s great news.

RainbowGardensLiberty — (You’ve seen this photo before…)

This makes three red, white and blue quilts for me.

AQuiltingLife_RWB I’m way behind my friend Sherri, of A Quilting Life, who has over a dozen in this collection. Head over to her blog to get a tour. I’ve got to get busy to catch up with her!